That was a heck of a substitution! Also Wondo is slowly losing his World Cup opportunity by not being able to do anything agaisnt teams that aren't awful.

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Originally Posted by SolidGold

Bortlezzzzzzz

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Originally Posted by Monomach

Brilliant letting one of Scott Pioli's henchmen have his own team to ruin. One of the premier GM jobs in the NFL and it gets handed to a stupid **** who makes three facepalm moves for every good one. Awesome. Just like handing a new Mercedes to a 16 year old girl who's already been in three wrecks.

So Martino seems all but confirmed at this point. I've done some looking into him since my last post, so I'll offer my thoughts;

He appears to be a very tactically sound manager who plays the style of football that has made Barca so successful these past years. He's also had success wherever he has managed, from Paraguay at the World Cup to Newell's Old Boys. But therein lies his major weakness, while successful he's never been tested at the major European level of competition he's about to walk into. Overall, he would have never been on my radar, but it looks like he's got all the tools to be a good appointment nonetheless. Worst case scenario, we suffer one bad year with him and then look for a bigger name next cycle.

On a side note, as long as him and Cesc get along, this move only reinforces the necessity of keeping Cesc. As mentioned, he plays the high intensity pressing style that we've utilized for the past few years, which means lots of depth will needed to stay competitive as the season progresses. Xavi and Cesc may be switching roles sooner rather than later.

EDIT: To avoid a triple post;

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Barcelona have told Manchester United that Cesc Fabregas is not for sale.

United confirmed on Monday that they had submitted an improved bid - understood to be £30m plus add-ons for the midfielder - but reports in Spain claim that has been turned down.

"Fabregas is not for sale," a Barcelona source said on Monday. "The president (Sandro Rosell) has been very clear with Man United."

Old Trafford boss David Moyes earlier said he may be forced to admit defeat.

When asked whether he would give up on Fabregas were the deal to drag on, Moyes said: "I think a point does come but I think when you are interested in good players you want to give it every opportunity to materialise. And I'll do that.

"I'll hope that things can continue to try to move forward.

"At this moment I can only tell you that Ed Woodward (United's executive vice-chairman) is working hard to make the deals happen and we're hoping some of them will fall into place shortly."